The City of Mahalla is situated in the delta, the industrial heart of Egypt. The workers of the Ghazl al Mahalla company has been the focal point of labour activism since December 2006, and the call for a general strike proclaimed on facebook that gathered 64 000 names in two weeks, where made to support the workers in Mahalla on that particular day, as well as being a call to protest the increase in prices. In the following days Mahalla was the scene of riots, that took at least two lives, and led to mass arrests and police brutality. The city was totaly cordoned off from the outside world for a few days.